B V 



^4^^^^^' 







lk.l\ 



MY 



INQUIRY MEETING; 



OR 



ft kill Wutl^^fof Snxiou^ goul^ 





BY 






EOBEET BOYD, 


D. D. 


Author 


of World's Hope, Young 


Convert-s &c. &c. 






^v ' ' 


r^"'" 


CHICAGO: 






FLEMING H. REVELL, 




91 Washington 


St. 




b 






■7- 





CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction, - . - . 5 

CHAPTER I. 
Sinning against Light - - . 7 

CHAPTER n. 

One who had "Tried every way, '* or 

Works and feelings - - 15 

CHAPTER HI. 

1 CANNOT BELIEVE FOR MY HEART IS SO 

HARD - - - - - 23 

CHAPTER IV. 
What can I do for Jesus, or. What is 

ACCEPTABLE SERVICE - - - 30 



IV. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 

I BELIEVE BUT MY HEART IS SO HARD 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Backslider 



Page. 

39 



52 




MY INOUIRY MEETINU. 



INTRODUCTION. 



J^UEING the many years that God per- 
mitted me to occupy the responsible and 
delightful position of a Christian Pastor, it 
was my habit to have a meeting for inquirers 
every Monday evening, both in summer and 
winter, in times of revival, and in times when 
there was no special religious interest. I found 
that this plan had many advantages. It led 
me to aim at the conversion of souls all the 
time, and to prepare my sermons with that 
object in view; while the impenitent in my 
congregation were led to feel that I was pray- 
ing and looking for their conversion, that they 
ought to come to Christ at once, and that 
they need not wait for a series of special ser- 
(5) 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



vices, nor till large numbers were joining the 
Church, to secure the salvation of their souls. 

Accordingly the notice for this meeting 
was given out regularly from the pulpit, the 
same as that of the weekly prayer meeting. I 
was at pains to explain that the meeting was 
not to be confined to souls in an anxious state 
about their personal salvation but was open 
to Christians who were in any perplexity 
about religious subjects or any thing that was 
disturbing their peace of mind, or hindering 
their growth in grace. Even persons troubled 
with sceptical doubts were urged to come 
and have a candid talk with me. The result 
was I was seldom without inquirers, and the 
conversations on these occasions greatly help- 
ed me in preparations for the pulpit. They 
gave me something to aim at of a definite 
character, and made my sermons more practi- 
cal than they might otherwise have been. 

I have thought that it might be both inter- 
esting and profitable to record some of the 
conversations at these meetings. In doing 
this however, I do not pretend to give the 
very words uttered by either the inquirer or 
myself; but only the general line of thought 
that was given. 



MYINQniETfflEETINI}. 

CHAPTEE I. 

SIKNING AGAINST LIGHT.. 

Inquirer, — I have been to hear you preach 
a good deal of late, sir, and hearing your 
invitation last evening I thought I would 
come and see you; though I fear there is no 
hope for my poor soul. 

Pastor. — I am glad you came, but what 
makes you think that your case is so hope- 



Z — Well, I have been a great sinner; have 
sinned against light and knowledge; have 
sinned deeply since I came to this city, and 
last evening under the sermon the sins of my 
whole life came up before me in black array, 
so that I felt that I was a lost man. 

P, — I am very glad that you see sin to be 

a great evil. It is the abominable thing which 

God hates; the only thing that God is said 

to hate. If God were to let us see all the evil 

(T) 



SINNING AGAINST LIGHT. 



that is in our hearts, we could not endure the 
sight. Still, no one with the New Testament 
in his hand ought to speak of his case being 
hopeless, for there he is told of a Saviour that 
saves to the uttermost, and that his wish is 
that all men should be saved by coming to 
the knowledge of the truth. What you want is 
to see God's simple way of accepting the guilty 
the true ground on which you can be for- 
given, and adopted into God's family of love. 

L — I fear that my sins are so great that I 
cannot be saved at all. They rise up before 
me Hke huge dark mountains, so that I can- 
not see any thing else. 

P — Well, suppose that there was before you 
a large balance, and that hanging on each end 
was a scale, and that the perfect atonement 
which Jesus made tor you when he died on 
Calvary, was put in the one scale, and that 
your sins, great as they are, were put in the 
other, which, do you suppose would weigh 
the most? 

I— O, I see some hope for me in that 
thought ? Yes, the blessed work ot Jesus must 
weigh the most. 

P. — Yes, indeed it must. Do you think 
that it is only little sinners that Jesus is able 
to save ? Has he not already saved some of the 
greatest sinners that ever lived, and has them 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



safe with himself at this moment in heaven? 
Christ is a perfect Saviour. His work is a 
finished work. The greatest sinner cannot 
say, his work is not able to meet my case, 
because my sins are so great. Unless he per- 
sists in his unbelief he can be saved, just as 
he is. 

L — But I cannot see how such a vile sin- 
ner can be saved just as I am. I intended to 
begin to live a better life, to pray a great deal, 
to do as much good as I could, and then in 
time, I thought God would forgive me and 
love me. 

P. — Why, my dear sir, God loves you now, 
has been loving you all along; and while you 
have been sinning against him all these years, 
his love has been following you, though he 
has hated your sin. It was out of love that 
he gave his son to die for you; and now, at 
this moment there is nothing between you 
and fuUpardon but your own unbelief. 

/ — Is it possible that such a sinner as I 
am can be pardoned now, this very hour? Are 
you sure of this, sir? It seems too good news 
to be true. 

P. — It is good news, and is as true as the 
word of God can make it. Just listen to this 
passage of scripture, 1 John i. 7. ''The 
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us 



SINNING AGAINST LIGHT. 



from all sin." That word is for you as truly 
as if your name was in the verse, and your 
very place of abode mentioned. 

I. — What a glorious promise! Please let 
me have the book that I may read it myself. 

P. — Yes, truly it is a wonderful text. A 
great and eminent Author said of it, ''It con« 
tains all my theology". Our Great High 
Priest has gone within the vail as our sin 
cleanser and perpetuated sacrifice. The word 
you see is in the present tense — ''cleanseth" 
— thus not only meeting the case of our past 
sins but that of our ever recurring sins in 
every day hfe; keeping the conciencetree from 
condemnation, and the way of access open 
for constant fellowship with God. Thus by 
faith in his blood we are cleansed from past 
and present sins; from great sins, and what 
men call little sins; from sins against hght and 
knowledge, and from sins of ignorance. The 
blood met the demands of law, not according 
to what we might think was required, but ac- 
cording to what God saw was required. What 
the law required was a perfect righteousness, 
and He who knows no sin was made sin for 
us, that we might be made the righteousness of 
God in him. 

I. — I now begin to see how my sins can be 
put away and yet God's justice be satisfied. 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



I feel ashamed of myself that I have so long 
neglected that blessed Bible which contains 
such comforting words for poor sinners. 

P, — It is indeed comforting to know that 
sin has been atoned for according to God's 
estimate of its vileness, and not according to 
onr estimate; and that his condemning sent- 
ence against it has been fully carried out upon 
the Lord Jesus. A clear view of this can 
alone give a steady peace of soul. If sin had 
not been disposed of according to God's view 
of it, we could have no permanent peace; lor 
though we might think all was right, the ques- 
tion would still come back, ''Is God well 
pleased with it? for it is with him we have 
to do. 

L — I think I now see that point clearly. I 
want to rest only on that which will satisfy 
the mind of God. I do not want to get com 
fort from any false hope that in the end 
would leave me worse than ever. I do not 
wish to be self-deceived. 

P. — That is right. Make sure work for 
eternity. He who believes in Jesus shall never 
be confounded. But the ground of our con- 
fidence and peace must be alone on Christ's 
blood shed for us, and not on our own faith 
in it. Inquirers often make a great mistake 
here. They keep thinking of their faith, and 



12 SINNING AGAINST LIGHT. 



wondering if they have the right faith, while 
their minds are being diverted from the great 
object of faith — the adorable Saviour. And 
when they can persuade themselves that they 
have the right faith, they rejoice in that instead 
of in Jesus. This is not believing in the Sav- 
iour, but only beUeving that they beheve. 
There is more danger of us beheving the 
wrong thing, then of our beheving the right 
thing in a wrong way. 

/. — There is one thing that troubles me, 
and that is how such a great blessing can 
come to us simply by beheving a truth about 
Jesus. 

p. — Well, my friend, the work of man's 
salvation was finished on the cross. This we 
are called upon to beheve as a completed fact. 
Our faith does not make the fact, but rests upon 
itasestabhshedby God's word. The work was 
done before the faith existed, and was wholly 
independenent of it. Yet unless I beheve in 
that finished work I cannot be saved by it, 
but am still under condemnation. ''He that 
beheve th not, is condemned already." Thus 
the work of Christ on the cross, eighteen 
hundred years ago, and my personal interest 
in it are two different things. 

L — I begin to see why unbehef is spoken 
of in the bible as such an awfiil sin, and why 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 1 3 



God says, ''he that beheveth not shall be 
damned". It cuts the sinner off from all the 
benefits of the Saviom*'s death. 

P. — ^Assuredly it does. On Calvary Christ's 
work filled the well of salvation. It is fall, 
free, and life-giving whether we drink or not. 
But unless we drink it, we can derive no good 
from it. So the blood of Jesus was shed for 
the vilest sinner; but it is only when he sees 
his lost condition, and by faith makes a per- 
sonal apphcation oi it to his own soul, that 
its saving power is known. Faith in the blood 
gives soUd peace of mind. It makes the be- 
liever an heir of God, and a joint-heir with 
Christ. He does not need to plead like the 
prodigal, ''Make me as one of thy hired 
servants," for he is recognized as a son. 
Instead of living in dread of his Maker, he 
can say joyfully, "nay beloved is mine and I 
am his. " Andrew Fuller once asked an old 
lady, who was relating her Christian experi- 
ence to him. "Were you long in the Slough 
of Despond?" Her reply was, "I was never 
there at all; I went at once straight to the 
Cross of Christ. " You must do as the poor 
Negro said he did, "Fall flat on the promises 
of God," for they are sure and steadfast 

/ — Thank God for the light I have got 
upon the truth this evening. I feel that I can 



14 SINNING AGAINST LIGHT. 



cast myself wholly upon Jesas as my Saviour, 
'^who loved me and gave himself for me." 

P. — I am dehghted to hear it. And if doubts 
arise to trouble you, go direct to the word 
of God, and be guided by that and not by 
your own feehngs. In John iii 36. it is said, 
''He that beheveth on the Son hath ever- 
lasting hfe." It does not say that he will get 
it some time, but that he has it now. 
United to Christ, for him there is no longer 
any condemnation. All his sins are blotted 
out, and he hves under a sweet sense of ac- 
ceptance with his heavenly Father. He is a 
happy man. David says, ''Blessed is the 
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not in- 
iquity." Let this happy state be with you 
a matter of daily experience. ITone can pluck 
you out of the hands of the Saviour, and be- 
cause he lives, you shall live also. Live near 
to God in prayer. "In all thy ways ac- 
knowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." 
May his blessing be with you. 



CHAPTEK 11. 

ONE WHO HAD '^TRIED EVERY WAy" OB 
WORKS AND FEELINGS. 

Inquirer. — ^I have come to see you sir, in 
hopes that you will be able to direct me how 
to get peace of mind. I have tried faithfully 
every way, to get that rest to my soul that 
others have found, but all to no purpose as 
yet. I am very unhappy. 

Pastor. — I have no doubt that you have 
been very earnest in seeking to find rest and 
peace to your mind. But you are mistaken 
in saying that you have tried every way. 
There is one way which you have not tried. 

L — What way can that be, sir! 

P. — The right way, my friend. The way 
of God's own appointing. You know that a 
person might be very dihgent, very earnest 
in going to a certain town, but unless he takes 
the right road he will never get there. On one 
(15) 



1 6 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



of our cold momings, I might try very hard, 
^nd with great sincerity to light my fire with 
pieces of ice, but I could never succeed in 
that way. In what way have you been trying 
to find peace ? 

/. — Well I have been trying to come to 
God in a right spirit, with a sincere and hon- 
est heart; for I know if I do not approach 
Him in that way He will not receive me. And 
w^hen I try to pray I feel that my heart is 
hard and cold, and wanders away so on the 
ivorld, that my prayers seems just Kke a 
mockery, and I rise from my knees quite 
discouraged. 

P, — Do you think if you could come to 
Ood with a better heart, with a right spirit, 
He would receive you then? Is this all you 
need to give you peace ? 

Z — Tes, I do think so; but there is where 
I always fail, and my heart seems to get 
worse and worse. 

P. — But if you could get your heart all 
right, and could go to God in that right 
spirit of which you speak, what use in that 
case would you have for Jesus as a Saviour, 
to give you access to the heavenly Father? 

I. — Realy, I must confess, I did not think 
of that. 



ONE WHO HAD "TRIED EVERY WAY.*' l^ 



P. — When God gave his own beloved Son 
to come from his Throne at the very summit 
of glory, to the misery and mockeries of earth, 
and to the nntold agonies of the death of the 
cross, it must have been to do something in 
our salvation that nothing else could effect, 
and any way of being saved that leaves this 
out must be all wrong. It is astonishing that 
you should have thought that you had done 
every thing to find peace with God, when you 
had not done the first and only thing that he 
requires, that is to believe on the Lord Jesus. 
Let me put the matter in this way, are you to 
be saved because you have a good heart, or 
because Jesus paid the penalty for your sins 
with his own blood? 

L — I see that I have been all wrong. And 
yet I have always believed that the Lord 
Jesus is the Saviour of the world. I never 
doubted that. 

P. — Yet that belief did you no good. So 
little effect did it have upon you that even 
when you were awakened to see your great 
danger of being lost, you tried every other 
way of being saved, but that of simple faith 
in Jesus. The devils beheve in Jesus as the 
Saviour of the world, and tremble. Many of 
the worst men now alive believe that, but it 
does them no good, produces no change in 



1 8 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



their hearts or their hves; while true faith 
makes a man a new creature, that is, trurly 
converts him. 
L — Well, how am I to beheve, in order to 

be right ? 

P. — I will tell you what you are to beheve, 
which is the vitally important matter. ''There 
is none other name under heaven given among 
men, whereby we must be saved," but the 
name of Jesus, you must not only believe that 
Jesus is a Saviour, for devils believe that, all 
but rank infidels beheve that, but yon must 
beheve that he is your Saviour; that he surely 
made a porfect satisfaction for all your sins; 
and that for the sake of what he has done 
God can be just and yet pardon you now. 
This is the way that Paul was saved, for he 
says, ''He loved me, and gave himslf for 
me." And John says, "We loved him because 
he first loved us. " You are perfectly right in 
wanting and wishing to have a right state of 
mind, a devotional spirit in coming before 
God; but where you erred, is in seeking these 
as a something to recommend you to God, 
instead of the precious blood of Christ. 

.1—^ think I begin to see where I have 
been wrong, but does not the Bible require 
of us good works, and holy feelings? 

P. — The first thing that the Bible requires 



ONE WHO HAD "TRIED EVERY WAY" 1 9 



of an unconverted man is to believe in the 
Lord Jesus. Before that he is hving in unbehef 
and that is described as making God a har. 
How then can he do any good work while 
living in such a state? Besides when he tries 
to be or do any thing good, it is from the 
motive of doing something that will recom- 
mend him to God, something that will 
procure the Divine favor, for the sake of his 
own goodness This must be very displeasing 
to God, for it is casting dishonor on his Son's 
work, and putting the performances of the 
poor sinner in the place of the Lord, our 
righteousness. 

When a sinner comes to Christ just as he 
is, his faith works by love, and purifies the 
heart. He then does good works, not in 
order to he saved ^ hut because he is saved ^ 
He is not working ybr life, but because he has 
Hfe. His good works are not done from the 
selfish motive of escaping punishment, but 
from love to that God, who has given him 
salvation as a free gift. The love of Christ 
constrains him ; and as his good works come 
from a right motive, they are well pleasing to 
God. 

L — O, I see that I was all wrong ! I wanted 
to do something first that would reconcile 
God to me, and then I thought he would 
forgive me. 



20 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



P. — That is a very common, but a very great 
error. In the first place, God does not need 
to be reconciled, for he was never in the wrong. 
Whoever is in that wrong requires to come 
and be reconciled to the right. It is sinners, 
then, that need to be reconciled to God; and 
hence it is written, ''God was in Christ recon- 
ciling the world unto himself, not iniputino* 
their trespasses unto them.'' You see it does 
not say that he is reconcihng himself to the 
world," but the world to himself Christ's object 
in coming to the world was not that God hated 
it and was tuU of wrath against it, and that 
Christ by dying reconciled him to us. No, 
Christ's coming into the world was the result 
of the father' s love. ' 'God so loved the world 
that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in him, should not perish, 
but have everlasting life. ' ' Christ' s death open- 
ed a way by which the love that had always 
existed to sinners could flow in upon us, in 
consistence with his justice; so that now he 
can be a just God and a Saviour. 

I. — I must say that this gives me an entirely 
new view of God's character, and one which 
is very attractive. 

P. — ^It is only through Jesus Christ that 
we can get a true ^dew of that character. In 
om* natural state our guilt makes us dread 



ONE WHO HAD "TRIED EVERY WAY" 21 



God, and regard him as our foe. Hence the 
thought of God makes sinners unhappy, and 
when they think of approaching him, they 
suppose that thty must do something to ap- 
pease his wrath; and avert from them his 
vengance on account of their sins. But when 
men see God in Christ, their whole nature is 
changed by the sight. ^'Aquaint now thyself 
with Him, and be at peace. " This shows that 
a true knowledge of God gives the soul peace 
at once. Again we read, ''This is eternal life 
to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom Thou hast sent. " And that 
there may be no doubt that we can only know 
God as revealed in Christ, our Lord says, 
^ 'He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father' ' 
In the gift of Christ to die for our sins, in all 
that he suiferedfor us, and in all his gracious 
invitations, we see the full declaration of 
Jehovah's love to us. 

I. — I am overwhelmed with wonder when 
I think that all this time when I have been 
trying to do something to make God love me, 
he was loving me already, and urging me with 
loving promises to come to him and be saved. 

P. — The awakened sinner can never get 
the start of God. If he desires to be saved, 
he finds that the Lord has been longing to 
save him long ago. When the prodigal made 



2 2 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



up his mind to return to his Father, he thought 
that he must use great intreatj to get into his 
house even as a servant ; but how astonished 
he must have been, to see the Father running 
to meet him, and bestowing all the blessings 
of a son upon him. 

In the Highlands of Scotland, a tourist tells 
us, that he passed through a great many gates 
where he had to pay money for the privilege 
of going through. At last he came to one gate, 
and was putting his hand into his pocket, 
when a httle girl ran in front and locked it. 
Then she turned to him and said, "You have 
not got to pay any thing, you have only to 
say, ''please let me go through." The gentle- 
man at once politely made the request, and 
passed on. The proprietor simply wanted to 
preserve his right of way. So our being 
admitted to God's favor, to the household of 
faith, and to heaven at last, is all of grace, not 
of works, least any one should boast. The 
most that any one will be able to say is, '^I 
am a sinner saved by grace." 

Z — I thank you for this interview. The 
Bible seems to me a new Book, and I can 
say Jesus is now my all in all. I wonder that 
I so long walked in the dark. May your 
labours be blessed to many. 

P. — I shall be glad to see you again at any 
time, to speak of these great truths. 



CnAPTER III. 

I CANNOT BELIEVE FOR MY HEART 
IS SO HARD. 

Inquirer, — I have come, sir, to have some 
conversation with you about my spiritual 
state. I cannot get my heart right at all, 
although I have been seeking it long and very 
earnestly. I feel that I have a very hard heart. 

Pastor, — It is good that you have come to 
know that. The sinners heart is often at the 
worst when he thinks it at the best. It is of- 
ten hardest when he thinks he has a pretty 
good heart. Pharaoh's heart was so hard 
that he did not feel its hardness. It is Hke 
a man who has got his hand frozen, and does 
not feel any pain, till circulation begins again 
to take place, and then he cries out; so when 
a sinner begins to cry out about the evil of 
his heart, it is a proof that the spirit of God 
has been moving upon his mind. 

L — I have sought for a better heart by 

(23) 



24 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



prayer, and by reading the Bible, and by at- 
tending the means of grace; but I seem to 
grow worse, instead of better. 

P, — Bnt you know that we must pray in 
faith, and reading the Bible can only do us 
good when we beheve its truths, and apply 
them to our own condition. 

L — I think, sir, that I do not clearly under- 
stand what this faith is, which I hear you 
speak so much about in your sermons and 
addresses. 

P, — It is just taking God at his word, or 
beheving what he says to be true. Paul says, 
in regard to Abraham, that ''he beheved God 
and it was counted unto him for righteous- 
ness." Now, to believe in Jesus as having 
died for your sins, because God has said it, 
is the faith that saves the soul. 

I. — But that seems very simple. Is not 
there something else required? 

P. — No, nothing more. Let me show you 
this by an illustration used by an Evangelist 
in England. He was speaking with an in- 
quirer, when he said, "You have heard about 
the man that is to be executed? "Ah, yes." 
Suppose as he lay in the jail, a knock was 
heard at the door the night before execution, 
and a gentleman walked in, sat down, and 
said, you have broken the laws ? ' 'Yes, Yes, ' ' 



I CANNOT BELIEVE. 25 



the convict replies. ''You h^ve been con- 
demned?" "Yes and justly 5 too." "And you 
are to die to-morrow ? " ' ' Yes^ I am. ' ' ' 'Well, 
I am the Queen's son; I have come from 
Windsor at her Majesty's request, and this 
is what I am to do. I will take your prison 
dress which you have on and sit in your place. 
The convict is astonished and exchanges dress- 
es ; he wonders if he is dreaming ; the Prince 
sits down in the convicts place ; in the morn- 
ing the executioner walks in ; he passes the 
convict; he takes the Prince dressed in the 
condemned man's dress ; he leads him out ; he 
is hanged by the neck till dead ; and the man 
who was condemned walks out free through 
the open prison doors." 

Now this picture though defective in many 
ways, may give you an idea of Jesus as your 
Substitute. The word of God says, Christ 
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the 
unjust, to bring us to God." When we were 
yet without strength, Christ died for the un- 
godly." And again, "While we were yet 
sinners Christ died for us." You see, then, 
that salvation is free -free to all; a gift given 
only through Jesus. It is all of grace from 
beginning to end. 

I. — I see that clearly, and wonder why I 
did not see it long before now. There is one 



26 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



Eassage that has troubled me. It is where our 
ord says, *'No man can come unto me ex- 
cept the Father which hath sent me draw 
him." 

jP. — That is a most precious text, and I do 
not see why it need cause you trouble. Take 
your own case. The reason why you are here 
to-night and taking such a deep interest in the 
affairs of your soul, is that God has been draw- 
ing you by his spirit. The reason why you 
were made to feel under the preaching of the 
word, was because of this drawing. God 
draws men by his spirit, by his word, and by 
his Providence, convicting them of there lost 
condition; and w^henhe has in great love done 
so, they often refuse to believe on his Son, 
professing to wait for more drawing. He has 
already drawn you to see your need of a Sa- 
viour, will vou not now at once receive Him 
by faith? 

I, — I do rest on Him now for time and 
eternity. The way is so easy and simple, that 
I wonder why I did not see it before; but my 
mind was darkened by unbelief 

P, — Yes, it is only beheve and live ; look 
and be saved. The devoted Mr. M'Cheyne 
says, ''It is almost impossible to explain what 
it is to come to Jesus, it is so shuple." 

If you ask a sick person who has been heal- 



I CANNOT BELIEVE. 27 



ed, what it is to come and be healed, he can 
hardly tell you. As far as the Lord has given 
me light on this matter, and looking at what 
my own heart does in hke circumstances, I 
do not feel that there is any thing more in 
coming to Jesus, than just believe what God 
says about His Son is true. I believe that 
many people keep themselves in darkness by 
expecting something more than this. Some 
of you will ask, is there no appropriating of 
Christ? No touching the hem of his gar- 
ment? I quite grant, beloved, there is such 
a thing, but do not think that it is separable 
from beheving the record. If the Lord per- 
suaded you of the glory and power of Imman- 
uel. I feel persuaded that you cannot but 
choose Him. It is like opening the shutters 
of a dark room; the sun that moment shines 
in. So the eye that is opened to the testi- 
mony of God receives Christ that moment. 

L — I see more clearly that all of our salva- 
tion is made to turn upon believing in Jesus. 
I never understood before that passage, ''He 
that believe th on the Son of God hath ever- 
lasting life, and he that belie veth not the Son 
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abid- 
eth on him." When I first became concerned 
about my soul, many of my old companions 
tried to persaude me, that it did not matter 



28 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



what a man believed, if liis conduct only was 
right. 

jP. — That is a popular notion with worldly 
men, but it is a very absurd one. They might 
as well say; ''It matters not how often a man 
gets drunk if he only keeps sober," or that it 
matters not how often a man steals if he only 
keeps honest." A man's behef will influence 
the whole of his deportment, in proportion 
as he carries it out in his life ; and if it be one 
that he cannot carry out, what is the use 
of it? 

I. — Yes sir, but they said that all that 
eould be required of any man was to act ac- 
cording to the dictates of his own conscience, 
and do honestly what is required of him. 

P, — That is a great and often fatal mistake. 
That would be to put conscience in place of the 
Bible, and to render a revelation from God to 
his creatures altogether unnecessary. Consci- 
ence is not the standard of right, but God's 
will is the standard ; and that will is revealed 
to us in the Bible. One man' s conscience tells 
him to do one thing, another man's the direct 
opposite. Paul tells us that when he was per-^ 
secuting and making liavock of the church of 
Christ, he thought that he was doing God 
service. He was committing murder con- 
scientiously It is only when conscience is 



I CANNOT BELIEVE. 29 



educated and enlightened by the word of 
G-od, that it is to be rehed upon ; else it may 
be taught to call good evil, and evil good. 
What God will do with the heathen who 
never have had an opportunity of hearing 
the gospel, it is not for us to say, for the 
Judge of all the earth will do right; but in 
regard to those who hear the gospel the plain 
declaration is made. ''He that belie veth not 
shall be damned. " It is said that God spared 
not his own Son, but it pleased the Father to 
bruise him; and we may rest assured that if 
there was any other way by which man could 
have been saved, His Son would not have 
been put to death. 

7; — I see my way now more clearly, and 
I think I will be better able to defend the 
truth. 

p, — It is right to defend the truth ; but take 
care of a bitter controversial spirit. It will eat 
the heart out ol your piety. Pray much for 
opposers, and speak the truth to them in love. 
This God will bless according to his own 
blessed promises. Having found the truth 
you are to be active in bearing it to others. 
"Let him that heareth, say come " We are 
to look with a pitying eye upon perishing 
souls, and exert ourselves to pluck them as 
brands from the burning. 



CHAPTER YI. 

WHAT CAN I DO FOR JESUS ; OR, WHAT 
IS ACCEPTABLE SERVICE. 

Inquirer. — I have come to see you, dear 
pastor, to get your advice as to how I can 
now best work for Jesus, my blessed Saviour, 
who has done so much for me. I long to do 
good, and the language of my heart is, ''Oh 
that all my Saviour knew! "And yet when 
I am asked to take part in any duty I feel so 
weak, and so pressed under responsibility, 
that I go home quite discouraged, and feeling 
as if I had done more harm than good. 

Pastor, — If you are going to do good in 
the church of God, j'ou must be content to do 
what you can at the time ; and not let your 
mind be diverted from your work by looking 
at the ability of others, and measuring your- 
self by them. Many young beginners make 
a mistake here. Because they connot pray 

(30) 



WHAT CAN I DO FOR CHRIST. 3 1 



or speak as fluently as some others, there- 
fore they will do nothing; or else they work 
under a depression that keeps them thinking 
of themselves, instead of looking to God for 
help. 

Z— Ton are perfectly right, and have de- 
scribed my case exactly. 'But what am I to 
do ? I have a strong desire to do something 
to save souls, yet leel as if I could do nothing. 

JF^. — Look at it in this hght. If you have a 
strong desire to save souls, that desire was 
put there by God himself Now, God cannot 
be urging you to work for him, at the same 
time that he has made you incapable of doing 
so. The fact that His spirit keeps urging and 
pressing you to service for the Master, impHes 
that there is something you can do for him, 
if you are only willing to use a little talent, 
till he is pleased to give you a larger one ; and 
also to remember that God can work by little 
gifts as well as by great. It pleases him often 
to take the weak things of the world to con- 
found the mighty. "'Not by might, nor by 
power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.'' 

I* — Your remarks give me a great deal of 
comfort and encouragement. I do believe that 
it is the Holy Spirit that has given me this 
strong desire to save souls, for such feelings 
are not natural to the human heart. 



32 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



P, — That is true, and remember that if a 
little ol the Spirit of God in you makes you 
long so much for tlie highest good of souls, 
we cannot imagine how great must be God's 
solicitude for the perishing. The greatness 
of his love is beyond the grasp of our finite 
minds. "God only can know the love of 
God." 

/. — That is to me a new idea, and a very 
solemn one. 

P. — It is one we should never forget in 
our approaches to God. You may have 
heard some people pray as if they were great- 
ly burdened about souls, and as if God were 
holding back, and was not willing to bestow 
the blessing. This is dishonoring to the lov- 
ing Father, who is far more willing to bless 
than we are to be blessed. Our faith should 
lead us to see that if we love souls at all, it is 
because he gave us that love, and that he has 
so loved a world of sinners as to give his Son 
to die for them. 

L — ^I often wish to take part in the prayer 
meetings, both by prayer and by making re- 
marks, and yet through difiidence I let the 
time go by, and come away so condemned in 
my mind that I have lost all good of the 
meeting. 

P^ — I am glad you have mentioned that 



WHAT CAN I DO FOR CHIRST. 



33 



subject. It is the duty of young converts to 
exercise their gifts at once, in the social meet- 
ings of the church. By so doing their gifts 
will grow and strengthen, till they may be- 
come very valuable workers in the Lord's 
service. I have known many who began in 
a very stammering, blundering way, grow up 
to be noble instruments in God's hand in 
turning many to Jesus ; when, if they had 
yielded to that timidity of which you speak, 
they would have been dumb professors all 
their lives. 

Z — I know it is wrong to let the meetings 
drag and loose their interest, and I often feel 
condemned. 

jP. — But right here a mistake is often made, 
which I wash to guard you against. It is that 
of cultivating, what I may call, an artilicial 
conscience, so that you will come away from 
every meeting in which you have not taken 
part with a feeling of condemnation. You 
will hear persons speak of the meeting in 
which they have taken part as a good one, 
and that in which they bore no part as the 
opposite. Now we should only feel condem- 
ned when we violate the known will of God- 
But God has no where commanded us to speak 
at every prayer meeting we attend, whither 
we have anything to say or not. It is our 



34 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



duty to SO study the Bible that we may have 
something to say to edification, and then to 
be ready to say it ; but God does not wish us 
to speak for the sake of soothing an artificial 
conscience, and going through the form of 
testifying, when we have no testimony to 
give. 

L — In my tract district there are a nmnber 
of persons who are anxious about their souls, 
and I am often greatly at a loss to know how 
to direct them. 

P. — It is truly solemn and responsible 
work, but the way that the Lord and his 
apostles directed anxious souls is upon record 
for our insturction. 

I, — Yes, sir, that is true ; but as I am new 
to this work, I thought from your long ex- 
perience, you could give me some hints that 
would be of use to me. 

P, — I shall gladly help you all I can. 
When souls are under conviction of sin, their 
great desire is to obtain peace of mind. This 
can be obtained in a wrong way as well as in 
a right way ; and a false hope will give the 
soul peace for a time, as well the true hope. 
Hence when an inquirer says he is happy, or 
that he has found peace, you must try to find 
out what that is founded upon. Faithfulness 
to souls requires this of you at once. Giving 



WHAT CAN I DO FOR CHRIST. 35 



improper directions to the awakened often 
leads to a false secimtv. For example, telling 
them to go home and pray. It is no doubt 
the duty of all to pray, but there can be no 
acceptable prayer but such as goes up through 
the Lord Jesus ; and as long as the sinner is 
in unbelief the Bible says he is making God 
a liar, and cannot therefore, be heard at the 
throne of grace. Besides, he is in danger of 
going through the mere form of prayer, and 
setthng down upon that as something that 
will recommend him to God. Now it will 
not do to put the very best prayer that ever 
was uttered in the place of Jesus, much less 
the prayer of unbelief. 

I. — But was not the publicans' prayer an- 
swered, and also that of the penitent thief on 
the cross ? 

P, — No doubt they were, but these were 
both prayers of faith The pubHcans' prayer 
we know was such, for he went down to his 
house justified ; and the prayer of the thief 
showed great faith in Jesus, as God, at a time 
when all things seemed against the idea. 

7. — I find that many of the inquirers think 
that they must wait till they have more feeling, 
a deeper sense of their sins, before they come 
to Christ. 



36 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



P. — O yes ! They have great faith in feel- 
ing, though not in Christ. The enemy tempts 
them to delay, rather then come to Jesus 
at once. Wait, wait, is the cry. Wait for 
more feeling, for deeper conviction, for a 
better heart. The enemy of souls does not 
care how much the sinner may be awakened, 
nor how serious he may be, if he can only 
keep him from coming to the blessed Sa- 
viour. Hence we must press immediate 
faith in Christ, as the command of God. 

75 — I find that some have been speaking to 
them against sudden conversions, and telHng 
them that God will bring them out to the 
light in his own good time. 

P, — God's good time is now; "Now is 
the day of salvation." God now commands 
the sinner to beheve, the Saviour now urges 
him in the most pressing terms to come, the 
Holy Spirit urges him to yield the conflict; 
and to speak as if God was not yet ready to 
receive him, is a dangerous error. As to 
sudden conversions the Bible is full of them. 
Conversion is the first step on the road to 
heaven, and the first step of a journey is not 
progressive, but taken at once Believing is 
an act of the mind- the act of a moment. 
"Look unto me, and be ye saved." How 
quick is a look given ! ' ^Hear, and your soul 



WHAT CAN I DO FOR CHRIST. 37 



shall live." How quick the ear catches tlie 
sound of an inviting voice ! The light of the 
truth dawns gradually upon some minds com- 
pared with others, but the act of closing in 
with Christ's offer is done at once. 

When pressing souls to believe in Jesus, 
you will often be met with the remark, '^I 
have always believed." They mean that 
they have always beheved something about 
Jesus; but press them with the inquiry if 
they believe that he has saved them person- 
ally, if they have now peace with God through 
faith in the blood shed for tliem, and they 
will acknowledge that they have not. 

/. — I find some who when they discover 
the remains of sin in their hearts, become dis- 
couraged, and fear that they have never been 
converted at alL 

jP. — An English evangelist in speaking 
with a young girl, set that matter before her in 
a very clear light. He said, ''How many per- 
sons were crucified on Calvary?" ''Three," 
she replied, "two thieves, and Jesus be- 
tween." "Were both the thieves equally 
bad?" "Yes, they sufiFered justly." Did 
both die ahke?" "No." "What made the 
difFerance?" "One believed in Jesus, the 
other did not." "Now what about sin in 
regard to these three. The one thief that did 



38 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



not look to Jesus, had lie sin in him ?" ^ ^Tes' ' 
' 'Had he sin on him ?" ' 'Yes. ' ' And Jesus, 
had He sin in him ? ''She thought a little while, 
but gave the right answer, "No." "Had he sin 
on him?" "Yes." "His own? "No." 
"The thief that looked to Jesus, had he sin 
in him after he looked?" "Yes." "Had he 
sin on him?" "No." Thus the cross still 
divides the world. The whole race is di\dded 
into saved or unsaved. 
"Trust Him, cling to him, O believe Him, 

All was done thy trust to gain; 
On him rest, and now receive him, 

And with Him for ever reign. " 



CHAPTEE V. 

I BELIEVE BUT MY HEART 
IS SO COLD. 

Inquirer, — I have heard you, sir, invite 
professing Christians as well as others, to call 
upon you for religious conversation ; and al- 
though I am not a member of your church, 
I have taken the liberty to come. 

Pastor, — I am very glad to see you, and I 
hope that our interview may be blessed to us 
both. 

L — I have been a professing Christian for 
many years, but I get along so poorly that I 
am often discouraged. My prayers are cold 
and dead, and when I read the Bible I do 
not get the comfort from it that I hear others 
speak of ; and I seem to make no progress 
in the cliristian life. 

jP. — Well, perhaps the reason you get no 
comlbrt from the word of God is, that you 
(39) 



40 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



go to it with your mind fixed upon your own 
need of comfort, instead of seeking to find 
Jesus in it, the true source of comfort. Thus 
instead of thinking of the dear loving heart 
of your best friend, who was speaking to you 
when you read the Bible, you have been 
watching your own heart to see if the comfort 
you expected was springing up there. 

I. — That is a new thought to me ; but I do 
not doubt but that I have erred in that way. 

P, — Yes, and I think you will find the 
same thing true in regard to the coldness of 
your heart in prayer. When you have gone 
to the throne of grace, you have thought 
more about you own cold heart, than of that 
warm, glowing heart of love, that was pierced 
by the soldier's spear for you on the cross. 
We can never get comfort, either from the 
Bible or in prayer, by looking at our own 
heart. In a cold winter day a person would 
never get warm by thinking and speaking of 
the cold, but by going to the fire ; and so we 
may settle it in our minds that all comfort, 
all good, all spiritual life, must come from 
outside of ourselves, even from Him in w^hom 
dwells the fullness of God. 

I. — I see where I have been wrong, and I 
think I shall avoid the error for the future, 
by God's grace. I want to ask you about 



I BELIEVE. 4.1 



another matter. I heard yon speak lately 
on the faith of assurance, now do you think 
that none are really converted who do not 
have assurance? 

P. — No I would not say that. I know that 
there are different degrees of faith-weak faith 
and strong faith, and yet the weak may he real 
faith as tar as it goes. Still, it should be 
borne in mind that the only reason why any 
one has not a steady knowledge of their ac- 
ceptance with God, is because of unbelief. 
They may have faith, but there is much un- 
belief mixed with it; and this imbeliet is very 
displeasing to God. 

L — That makes the matter some-what 
plainer. I acknowledge that my mind is of- 
ten full of doubts and fears, and I long for 
certainty in this matter. 

P, — Mr. Yarley tells of a circumstance 
which occurred when he was in Toronto. A 
young man in the University had been preach- 
ing for three years, and never knew that he 
was saved. The Evangehst says. ''He came 
to me, and I said to him very quietly." "Da 
you believe in the Son of God?" ''I do.?"' I 
said ''Tell me what you believe concerning^ 
him." His answer was, "I believe that He 
died for my sins. " I asked, "Do you believe 
that your sins were laid on Jesus? The 



42 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



Lord laid on him the iniquities ot ns all. " 
He turned and said, ''I never thought of it in 
that light." ''Do you beheve that God laid 
your iniquities on his Son?" ' 'Yes I do. ' ■ ' 'Why 
do you say that?" I said. "Because it is in 
God's word," he replied. I then said to him, 
"Brother, where is your sin?" He was quite 
startled by the question, it was a new question 
to him. He said, "Christ must have taken 
it." I said, "You seem surprised, brother; 
why, God has been telhng you that for more 
than twenty years." Then he read the verse, 
"He that belie veth in Him is not condemn- 
ed," and he said with great joy, "I am not 
condemned ; I know it because God says so. " 

I. — That really makes the gospel good 
news. I often thought it was inconsistent to 
say we believe the gospel, and yet live m 
doubts and fears, nearly the whole of our 
lives. 

P, — That reminds me of a conversation 
between a Sabbath School teacher and her 
scholar, which I have somewhere seen. The 
lesson for the day included our Lord's words, 
"Yerily I say unto you, he that believeth on 
me hath everlasting life." A little girl in- 
<juired, "Is that true, is that surely true?" 
"Oh yes," said the teacher, "it is surely 
true. " "It must be very nice, " said the child, 



I BELIEVE. 43 



''to have everlasting life and to know that, 
whatever happens, you are saved." ''Yes, 
it is a great blessing indeed, " said the teacher. 
"Then you are saved, are you not?" said the 
scholar. "I hope so. " said the teacher. 
"Hope so !" exclaimed the little one, "I 
thought you told me just now that it was sure 
enough. " Now persons who live in this state 
of doubt and uncertainty, are generally found 
fixing their thoughts upon themselves, their 
feelings, their frames of mind and emotions, 
rather than upon Christ. What is called 
assurance of faith is not the privilege of apos- 
tles or a few eminent saints, but o± all who 
take God at his word, and rest by faith upon 
what he says as to the all cleansing power of 
Christ's blood. 

Z — That is different from what I have 
been taught on this subject ; I have always 
understood that it was something exception- 
al and extraordinary in Christian experience, 
to be sure of our salvation 

Z — It was not so evidently in primitive 
times, and it is not so where the true nature 
of the Gospel as a full, free, and present sal- 
vation is preached and received. Christ's work 
was a finished work! his sacrifice for sinners 
has an infinite value, his righteousness is a 
perfect one, clothed in which his people are 



44 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



to be presented at last without spot or blemisli. 
If a man professes to believe in Jesus, and 
yet has no peace, no joy, no confidence of his 
acceptance, but is going on in a blind doubt- 
ing way, hoping for the best, it is evident that 
he does not see the infinite value of Christ's 
blood, or he would not by doubt cast dishon- 
or upon it. If Jesus has satisfied for me the 
claims of the law, if God is satisfied with what 
has been done in my stead, why should not 
I be satisfied ? If He is satisfied and well pleas- 
ed with his Son's work, why should not I be- 
lieve him when he says so, and have done 
with this disheaii-ening doubt and uncertainty. 

L — I have noticed that in E'ew Testament 
times the Christians spuke much more confi- 
dently of their state than most professors do 
now. For example, ^^TTe know that we 
have passed from death unto life." ''We 
know that when the earthly house of this 
tabernacle is disolved, we have a building of 
God, a house not made with hands eternal in 
the heavens;" and many other passages of a 
like kind. 

P. — That is truth. The gospel is glad 
tidmg^s of s^reat joy, and where-ever it was 
published by the apostles it made those who 
beheved it happy. Phillip preached it in 
Samaria, and there was great joy in that city. 



I BELIEVE. 45 



If you had met one of those happy converts 
and had asked, ''do you know that your sin's 
are forgiven, do you know that God is well 
jDleased with you lor his Son's sake?" Would 
he have put on a sad face, heaved a deep sigh, 
and said, ''Well, sir, I am hoping for the 
best; 1 am praying and looking for happy 
feelings to spring up in my heart; and doing 
the best I can. ' ' When the Eunuch mention- 
ed in Acts 8. heard the gospel, he beUeved 
it at once, and "went on his way rejoicing. " 

J. — I heard a person lately say, that he 
considered it presumption for any one to be 
so confident of his salvation, as some people 
professed to be. 

P. — The Christians of Paul's day, instead 
of thinking it presumption to know that they 
were saved, were encouraged to "have bold- 
ness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of 
Jesus," and "to draw nigh in the full assur- 
ance of faith;'' a faith that rests upon God's 
eternal truth, and that the combined powers 
of earth and hell can never destroy. John 
says, "These things I write unto you that 
believe in the name of the Son of God, that 
ye may know that ye have eternal life. " 

In those days your poor, doubting, fearing, 
hesitatiug professors, whose eyes are always 
turned in upon their own hearts to find out if 



46 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



they are saved, instead of being fixed on 
J esus, would have a poor appearance in lacing 

f)risons, tortures, flames, and death in its most 
lorrible forms. The primitive Christians 
knew whom they had believed, and were, 
therefore, enabled to rejoice in tribulation, 
to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods, 
and to count not their lives dear unto them 
for their Lord's sake. And such Christians 
we need now, as much as they did then, men 
and women who know their Lord's voice, 
and follow him ; and who go forth to conquer 
under a banner which has inscribed upon it, 
''We know that our Redeemer liveth." 

Z — We certainly need such a rehgion now 
as much as they did then ; for though we can- 
not be dragged to prison, or to the stake for 
our rehgion, yet we are met on every hand, 
with infidelity in its vilest forms, and most 
dangerous aspects ; and we should be able.to 
show that we know that we stand upon the 
the Eock of Ages, and that we feel an assured 
confidence in reading God's word. 

P, — I am glad to hear you speak thus. In- 
fidelity is a system of negations, of doubt and 
uncertainties. It speaks of what is not, but 
does not tell us what is. It seeks to rob the 
soul of its trusts for eternity, and then leaves 
its poor plundered victim to die in despair. 



I BELIEVE. 47 



One of them says there is no God, another 
tells us that matter is eternal, that matter 
made itself, and that it is no matter whether 
it did or not. Here is a man who tells us that 
he came from the monkey race ; which race 
came from some other race ; and you would 
have a hard race to trace the thing up to 
where his driveling nonsense points. 

Now the gospel, when believed, gives 
assurance and confidence for the present and 
the future. Its language is, ''Fear not, for 
unto you is born a Saviour who is Christ the 
Lord." I rejoice in the many converts that 
are now turning to the Lord, and I want them 
to grow up strong in the faith, confident in 
the power of atoning blood, and not by doubts 
and fears, and gloomy aspects, bring a re- 
proach upon the gospel. 

/. — I am sure that I could be more useful 
to .others, if I lived this constant life of faith, 
I am often kept from speaking to others, by 
my own doubts. 

P. — Yes, that is the natural result. ''I be- 
lieve, therefore, have I spoken." I was 
delighted in reading lately about the conver- 
tion of a British nobleman, the late Earl of 
Ducie. He rejoiced in the full assurance of 
faith. When dying he gathered his servants 
round his bed and said, ''I would not pass 



48 MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



away without saying a w^ord to you, to let you 
know what the Lord has done for me. A 
short time since mv heart was cold, and dead, 
and obdurate ; but now He has turned my 
darkness into light. It is not of myself, no 
work of my own but of grace. I have no 
doubts ; no, I could not doubt ; do not you 
doubt, for the vilest have obtained mercy. 
JVIay the peace of God be with you all ; and 
may the light of his countenance shine upon 
you, as it does upon me this moment." 

Speaking of assurance, he said, ''I have it 
through Jesus more and more every hour. 
It is not presumption ; oh, no, I do not pre- 
sume. "Do not think it presumption ; it would 
be presumption to doubt." To his friends 
he said at another time, ' -I thank God I have 
a Saviour, and such a Saviour! Never doubt 
him. Oh, what a God he has been to me ! 
If one sinner was ever greater than another, 
I am he; but Christ saves to the uttermost. 
"I have no fears nor doubts." 

L — Ah, those dying words are refreshing. 
T feel that they have strengthened my faith 
-greatly. Those words of his are very striking. 
It would be presumption to doubt." 

P. — Yes, both striking and true. It is very 
sad that any professing Christian should be 
content to live in uncertainty, when Jesus 



I BELIEVE. 49 



has laid siich a foundation for perfect confi- 
dence. But stranger and sadder still, that 
any can be found thinking that their very 
doubts are evidence of the reality of their 
piety ; as if unbelief could be the proof of their 
faith, and distrust the evidence of confidence. 
Why do those who ought to know better, 
cling to their doubts as if there was something 
blessed in uncertainty? What comfort can it 
bring amid the trials and burdens of life ? It 
is itself the greatest burden, and enveloping 
us in a thick cloud of night, hinders us from 
walking with God who is light and love. 

Be assured, my dear friend, that the gospel 
does not encourage doubts, nor permit us to 
call them by the name of humility. It enables 
the believer to say, ''The Beloved is mine^ 
and I am His. It is not that he hopes to be 
His, or that he ought to be His, but that he is 
His. ''He that believeth on me hath ever- 
lasting life. " Our Great Substitute has paid 
the penalty, and satisfied the claims of the 
law ; and faith identifies us with Him, so that 
we can no more be lost than He can be lost; 
and sure as He is in glory, so sure is it that 
His people will be there with Him "He will 
not be in glory, and leave me behind." "Be- 
cause I live, ye shall live also," are His own 
words. We are made partakers of Christ, 



so MY INQUIRY MEETING. 



that is fellow-sharers, fellow-partners with him 
in all that he has. Oh, how exalted the Christ- 
ian' s privileges ! We hve in God, we are the 
temple of God, the Lord is our portion and 
our heritage forever. Let us say I will trust 
Him and not be afraid. 

L — A correct view of our Lord Jesus as 
our substitute, and a firm faith in His finished 
work, is I see the true remedy for these doubts 
I have spoken about. 

P, — Let me give you an illustration before 
you go. There were two boys who lived in 
the north of Scotland. In childhood they 
played together, and loved one another, but 
as they] grew towards manhood their paths 
separated. Years passed away, and they met 
again, but not as they had parted. One of 
them was a criminal brought before the court 
to receive his sentence, and the other was the 
judge upon the bench, who was to pass the 
sentence. The prisoner hoped, as he recog- 
nized the judge as his former playmate, that 
he would be let off easy. After the case had 
been stated, the judge*^ called for the book of 
law, in which the penalty attached to the 
crime was written. There were two extremes, 
the smallest and the greatest sum. 

The prisoner hoped that the judge, for the 
sake of their old friendship, would give him 



I BELIEVE. 51 



the least ; but the judge ordered that he should 
pay the heaviest sum, a sum so great that he 
could not pay it, and would therefore be con- 
demned to lite-long imprisonment His head 
sank in sadness upon his breast when he heard 
the voice of his judge saying, ''George, 
George, my old friend, I have judged you as 
a just judge, and now I will save you as a 
friend. I have indeed fixed the heaviest pen- 
alty, but I intend to pay it all myself, and 
you are free. " 

Let this remind us of Him who paid the 
full penalty which justice demanded, that 
we might be forever saved. 



CHAPTER YI. 

THE BACKSLIDER. 

Pastor, — You seem to be in much distress 
of mind about something ; can you tell me 
what it is ? 

Inquirer. — Under the sermon last evening 
1 was led to see my dreadful guilt and apos- 
tasy. I once knew the Lord Jesus as my 
Saviour, but by my sinful hfe I have put 
Him to an open shame, crucified him afresh. 

P, — Well I am glad that you have been 
led by the Spirit of God to see your guilt, 
and, in some measure, to know your danger. 

7; — To you think, sir, that it is possible 
for me to be again received back into God's 
favor ? 

p. — What I think about it would be of 
(52) 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 53 



very little consequence. We must try and 
find out what is Grod's mind on the matter. 
Do you think that God did once accept you, 
for Jesus sake, though you were a poor lost, 
unworthy sinner. 

Z — Fes; I have no doubt of that, I lived 
for years in the sweet enjoyment of peace 
with God 

P. — That being the case, do you think that 
the gracious Lord that received you as a 
guilty sinner then, has changed since that 
time? Do you think that the precious blood 
of Jesus has lost its efficacy? 

/. — I cannot really think that there can be 
any change in the love of God, or in the 
power otthe Saviour's blood; but still I can 
find no rest or peace in mind, for my sins are 
ever before me. 

P. — You never will find rest and peace in 
that way. You see your great sins, and the 
guilt of your backsliding, your concience is 
awakened, and utters the condemning voice. 
You are filled with trouble and almost plung- 
ed into dispair, and keep looking at the 
darkness and misery of your own mind to get 
comfort. You might as well approach an 
iceburg to get warmed. 

L — You surely do not think that it is wrong 
for me to feel deeply distressed about my 



54 THE BACKSLIDRE. 



great sin in forsaking the Lord? 

P. — 'No it is perfectly riglit that you should 
feel so; but it is wrong Irom you to stop 
there. You might look at and bewail your 
sins formiUions of years, and yet be no better 
than now. You must think of God's mind con- 
cerning you. You can know what He thinks 
of your case by what He says. ' 'Keturn unto 
me ye backshding people, and I will heal 
your backshdings, ^i^d love you freely." 
What was the cause c>f your backsliding 2 

T, — I was a member of a Christian Church. 
L became very much engrossed by business. 
I first began to neglect secret prayer, showing 
the truth of what you said in your sermon last 
evening, that backshding generally begins at 
the closet door. Then I ceased to attend the 
weekly prayer meeting, and when I did go 
seldom took part in the services; then I bogan 
to take less interest in reading my Bible, and 
read books of a trifling kind. A little thing 
was made an excuse for my staying away Irom 
the house of God on the Sabbath ; and in 
short, I soon found that my heart had be- 
come as hard and cold as a stone, and when 
I tried to pray the heavens seemed as brass 
to my cry. O my cup of woe was filled to 
the brim ! I feared my soul was lost forever. 

P, — Your case, my friend, is a sad one, but 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 55 



it is not hopeless. All through your wander- 
ings the eye of your heavenly Friend has 
been upon you for good. Your soul has been 
very precious in His sight. He did not give 
you up nor forget you though you forgot Him. 
It was He who sent aliiicting Providences to 
arouse jon from your sleep of sin ; and it was 
he who sent his Holy Spirit to arouse you to 
your present sense of danger of being forever 
lost. 

I. — Indeed, sir, I have feared that I had 
committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
which can never be forgiven. 

I^. — In a sense all sin is a sin against the 
Holy Ghost ; but the sin that the Lord speaks 
about there, is blaspheming against the Holy 
Spirit, and which I think consisted in attribut- 
ing the wonderful miracles of our Lord to 
Satanic influence. You must not let the enemy 
of souls draw you into the depths of dispair; 
for his way is first to persuade souls that there 
is no danger in living in sin, and then to lead 
them to think that there is no mercy for them 
at all. 

I. — Then what am I to do to get back the 
peace I once had ? 

P. — Do just what your Lord tells you; cast 
yourself upon the merits of Christ's blood, that 



56 THE BACKSLIDER. 



blood which cleanses from all sin. As the 
good old hymn says:- 

' 'Blood has a voice to pierce the skies, 

Vengeance the blood of Able cries ; 

But the dear stream when Christ was slain 

Speaks peace as loud from every vein." 

This reminds me of an anecdote which 
I have read. Some years ago two soldiers 
belonging to the British army, stationed at 
Gibralter, were, in the mercy of God, brought 
to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. 
Though living in that secluded spot, and with 
few opportunities of hearing the glorious 
gospel yet they were led to read the Bible 
together, and the still small voice of God, 
speaking in His word, had brought to their 
hearts conviction of sin. One found peace 
through faith in the blood of atonement. One 
evening these soldiers were placed as sentries 
at opposite ends of a sallyport, or long passage, 
leading from the rock of Gibralter to the 
Spanish territory. One of them as I said was 
rejoicing in the Saviour, while the other was 
in a state of deep conviction of sin. On the 
evening referred to, one of the officers who 
had been dining, was returning to the garrison 
at a late hour, and coming up to the sentry 
on the outside of the sallyport, and who was 
the soldier lately converted, he asked as usual 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 57 



for the watchword. The man absorbed in med- 
itation on the glorious things that had lately 
been unfolded to him, replied to the officer's 
challenge with the words, ' 'the precious blood 
of Christ." He soon recovered himself and 
gave the right answer ; but his comrade heard 
the words, and they came home to his heart 
like a voice from heaven. His load of guilt 
was removed and peace flowed into his soul. 
So I want you to turn your attention from 
yourself and your sins, to the precious blood 
which alone can restore you to peace. 

I, — I thank Grod for the comfort that 
thought brings to my mind. That blood I 
see must be my only refuge. 

P, — Yes and you could not have a better 
one, for it is of God's making. And let me 
suggest another thought in the same connect- 
ion ; it is that of your Saviour as the Great 
Advocate above. ' 'If any man sin, we have an 
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous." Through Him we can go and 
confess our sins, and God is faithful and just 
while He forgives our sins for His sake. 

L — O why did I ever sin so deeply against 
so good a God ! When I think of my sins 
with their great aggravations, it seems to me 
at times as if I could not be forgiven. 

P. — I do not wish to make you think less 



58 THE BACKSLIDER. 



of the great guilt of jour sins, but more of the 
mighty grace ol God in Christ. You depart- 
ed from God after all He did for you, showing 
great ingratitude and resistance of hght and 
knowledge and you should be very thankful 
that He did not leave you in hardness of 
heart, but aroused you to see your guilt and 
danger. 

/. — I do thank God for that. He might 
have given me up, and have said, ''He is 
joined to his Idols, let him alone!" 

P. — David, when awakened from his back- 
sliden state, prayed ''Quicken me according 
to thy judgements." God took him at his 
word and by the most terrible works of judg- 
ments followed him in his wanderings. These, 
David was enabled to see, were all sent in 
love; for he says, "Though I walk in the 
midst of trouble. Thou wilt revive me." 
Then he was made, like you, to reflect upon 
his guilt ; the secret, hidden evil of his heart 
was discovered and confessed to God ; then 
his proud confidence in himself was shaken, 
and he was made to see that he could only 
stand in the divine strength. 

L — While you were speaking I was led to 
remember how the dear Saviour restored 
Peter to His favor after his fall, and the 
thought has encouraged me to trust that he 



MY INQUIRY MEETING. 59 



will bless me. 

P, — Yes, how loving and tender was our 
Lord's way of dealing with backshding Peter. 
There was no loud, wrathful word, no bitter, 
angry denunciation, no revengeful threat; 
there was not even a word spoken, only a look: 
but oh what a look that must have been! 
flashing upon Peter's soul the remembrance 
of all his Lord's past kindness in contrast to 
his own present ingratitude. It was a soul- 
piercing, heart-breaking look; and Peter 
under its influence, went out and wept 
bitterly. It led him to reflection as in the 
case of the backshding church at Ephesus. 
Our Lord's words to them were, ''Remember 
from whence thou art fallen , and repent and 
do thy first work." The man who has been 
wandering from God is often stopped in the 
whirl of the excitement of business and pleas- 
ure, and laid upon a bed of sickness. In a quiet 
darkened room, through long, dull days and 
sleepless nights, he is compelled to think. 
Or, by some severe and unexpected stroke, 
his friends are taken away from him, a wife 
or a child that he has most tenderly loved ; 
and thus he is made to feel the emptiness 
and vanity of earth, and turns to his long- 
forsaken God. 

L — I thank God that He has restored my 



6o THE BACKSLIDER. 



:SOul, and my peace now flows like a river. 
I can now say with Peter, '^Lord thou know- 
est all things, Thou knowest that I love 
Thee." I have been forgiven much, may I 
from this time love much. 

P. — God grant that it may be so. Love 
to Christ is the Great vital power of all true 
religion. ''The love of Christ constraineth 
me,'' is to be our watch word. All obedience 
that does not spring from this motive will be 
very fitful and uncertain. When the heart is 
filled with Christ's love, his yoke will be felt 
easy, and his burden light; and what to 
others might seem burdensome duties, love 
makes delightful privileges. For your future 
>guidence let me direct your attention to the 
words of Dr. Guthrie, "If you find your- 
self beginning to love any pleasure better 
than your prayers, any book better than your 
Bible, any house better than God's, any table 
better than the Lord's, any person better 
than your Saviour, any one better than your 
soul, a present indulgence better than the 
Jiopes of heaven-TAKE alaem." 



This book is designed especially to awaken the indiffer 
ent and lead the enquirer iato the light. It is particularly- 
valuable to those who have to deal with anxious souls. 



^'OI^^OE AND TR.UTH'^ 

UNDER TWELVE DIFFERENT ASPECTS. 
By W. P. MACKAY, M. A. 

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL, HULL. 



Mr. D. L. MOODY, says of this work: 

**I know of no book in print better adapted to aid in 
the work of him who would be a winner of souls, or to 
place in the hands of the unconverted. I wish I could 
present a copy to every minister of the Gospel in the 
United States. 



Rt. Rev. GhaS. Edward Cheney: Bish«p Reformed Episcopal 
Church, says : 

*' I know of no work better adapted to arrest the care- 
less sinner, or to make plain to the enquirer the pathway 
of safety. 

Most heartily do I pray that the Holy Spirit may add 
to its publication in this country, an abundant ben« 
ediction *' 

JOHN HALL, D. D-, of New Yoik City, Writes: 

"It contains the truth preached, I trust, by great numbers of my 
brethren in the ministry, and I respectfully commend it to those of 
them who have not read it, not because they will coincide with every 
application of scriptural language, but because they will find in it most 
effectual exposure of the refuge of lies, pointed, pungent statement of 
Evangelical truth, and a unif orm effort to lift up Christ 

B. F Jacobs Esq. «ays : 

A few years ago I read " Grace and Truth, " by W. P. Mackay. 
I regret that I did not see it before. Mr. Moody has done the mmis- 
ters of America a great icrvice in getting it from the author, and I think 
they will do their people a good service to read it. It is a gracious 
presentation of precious truth. 

Price, 12 mc, 270 pp. clear type, cloth, fine, - - $1.00 
Cheap edition, in stiff paper cover, - - .50 

Special terms for quantities for distribution. 

Chicago: F. H. Revell, 91 Washington Street 



NOTES by "C.H.M." 

GENESIS ^ 
. EXODUS, 

LEVITICUS> 

NUMBERS- 

The Notes on each book are complete in one volume. 



READ WHAT IS SAID OF THEM. 

About three years since I had my attention called to C. 
H. M.'s notes, and was so much pleased, and at the same 
time profited by the way they opened up Scripture truths, 
that I secured at once all of the writings of the same author, 
and if they could not be replaced would rather part with 
my entire library, excepting my Bible, than with these 
writings. They have been to me a v«ry key to the scrip- 
tures. D. L. MOODY. 



I take great pleasure in heartily endorsing to all Christ- 
ians who desire to be more thoroughly taught in the word 
of God, the notes of C, H. M, Under God they have 
blessed me more than any books, outside of the Bible it- 
self, that I have ever read, and hav^ led me to a love of 
the Bible that is proving an unfailing source of profit. 
D. W. WHITTLE. 
Price, Bound in Cloth, 8mo, each vol. - $ i oo 
The set of 4 vols. . . - . 3.^0 

Price in Red burnished edges I1.25 per vol. $4. per set. 
*^* Sent post paid on receipt of price 

Chicago: F. H. REVELL, qiJWashingtgn. 



Tinted Covers 50 cts; Cloth neat, 75 cts: Superior Edition Cloth, gilt, $1.25 

ADDRESSES BY D. L. MOODY. 

REVISED BY HIMSELF. 



PREFACE 

In compliance with the wish of many friends, I have consented to 
the publication of the following Addresses. 

I deeply feel how partially and insufficiently the Glorious Gospel of 
the blessed God is represented in them, but I lay them at the master's 
feet, praying — and asking all my Christian friends to pray — that they 
may be the means in their printed form of winning more souls to 
Christ than they have been when spoken. D. L. MOODY 

Paper covers, - 15 cent. 

MY INQUIRY MEETING; or plain truths for anxious souls 

By Robert Boyd, D. D. 
Author of World's Hope, You-ng Converts, &c. 



In this small volume the author has taken up a number of different 
cases covering a great variety of Inquirers difficulties. ^ The sceptic, 
the indifferent, the inquirer without feeling, the backslider, &c., &c. 

18 Mo. 192 pp. Cloth, 75 cts; l3oard, 50 cents. 

The Gospel according to Moses, as seen in the Tab- 
ernacle and its various services. 

By George Rogers. - - - Neiv Edition. 

EXTRACTS FROM PREFACTORY NOTE 
TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
It would be difficult, in the compass of a few lines, to say what a bless- 
ing Mr. Rogers's Lectures, and his book on the Tabernacle, have been 
to my soul. Moses, indeed, wrote of Jesus ; but that the Tabernacle 
was so full of Christ in every curtain, and pole, and hook, and colour, 
and texture, I never thought until I had the privilege of listening to 
Mr. Rodgers's Lectures. I rejoice in the publication of this little 
book. 

J. E. G. 



12 Mc. Cloth, Beveled Tsoards. gilt. $1.00. A Bool: for the aged. 
One hundred choice large type hymns, 

containing many of the most popular poems of Bonar, Cowper, M* 
Cheyne. &c., in clear large type, especially suitable for a gift to aged 
friends. 

Chicago: F. H Revell, 91 Washington Street. 



209 pp. in tinted covers 50 cts: Cloth, fine, $1.25, 

The Record of a Happy Life- 
Being memorials of Frank Whitall Smith, a student of Princeton College 
By his. mother, H. W. S. ( Mrs. R. Pearsall Smith,) A particularly 
yaluable book to give to young people. ** An intensely interesting, al- 
though exceedingly devotional volume. " 

Fifth Thousand, 18 Mo. 112 pp. Cloth, hoveled edge, 75 oents. 
The Holy Life. 

A book for Christians seeking " The Rest of Faith. ' * 
By Rev. Evan H. Hopkins. 
A very clear, consise, and scriptural presentation of this important 
subject. It will be found very helpful, 

12 Mo. 3S8 pp. Cloth, fine $1., hoard, 75 cents. 

Oxford Union Meeting, for the promotion of scriptural holiness 
being an account of those remarkable meetings at Oxford England, 
and containing the addresses in full. 

8 Vo. 18 pages, paper covers, 30 cents. 

Cods Dealings with the Chicago Foundlings Home. 
Being a history of the first four years of the Home. 

By Geo. M. Shipman, M, D. 
This work is replete with incidents of the Lords faithfulness in 
supplying the needs of those who call upon Him. The Home is a faith 
work dependant entirely upon the unsolicited aid of the Lords people. 

International Lesson Monthly. 

A MAGAZINE FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND THE HOME. 

LESSONS prepared by B. F. JACOBS. 

Primary Lessons by Mrs. W. F, Crafts. 

TERMS POST-PAID. 

$1.00 per annum, or In clubs, only 60 cents per annunfi. 

LESSON PAPERS. 

65 cts- per 100, or $7 80 for 10 copies one year 

SEND FOR SPECIMENS. 



'*WOROS OF LIFE 



99 



A Monthly Sunday School Paper, beautifully illustrated 
finely printed on tinted paper, and aiming to present gospel truths in 
plain words and in an attractive form for children and Youth, Terms 
i8 cents, per year in clubs, Send for sample copies, and let the 
paper SPEAK FOR ITSELF. 

Chicago: F. H. Kevell, 91 Washington Street. 



'fiir 











•■x^"4^ 



HHril 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 239 197 1 















